By "most of the code" I mean most of the code I know :)

AFAIK everything in XWiki platform and in most extensions is doing
this and it includes of course everything you do trough the standard
UI.

On Fri, Feb 2, 2018 at 3:51 PM, Marc Sladek <marc.sla...@synventis.com> wrote:
> With "most of the code", do you also mean when new documents are being
> created and stored (the scenario where collisions happen)?
>
> Imho there is nothing preventing collisions when doing:
> * new XWikiDocument(docRef)
> * modify instance
> * exists check and save
>
> On 2 February 2018 at 15:28, Thomas Mortagne <thomas.morta...@xwiki.com>
> wrote:
>
>> On Fri, Feb 2, 2018 at 3:07 PM, Marc Sladek <marc.sla...@synventis.com>
>> wrote:
>> > Introducing this certainly doesn't hurt, but 'm not sure how useful it
>> is.
>>
>> I never said it was the solution to all collisions but it will cover
>> most of the (very rare and never reported) overwrites at 0 cost.
>>
>> > Firstly, it can show collisions only after a document is already
>> > overwritten, thus the damage is already done.
>>
>> Again keep in mind that most of the code does:
>> * getDocument(DocumentReference)
>> * modify the XWikiDocument instance
>> * saveDocument()
>>
>> so if getDocument() fail you are not going to overwrite anything.
>>
>> > Secondly, loadXWikiDoc has to
>> > be called for the document which doesn't exist anymore, I guess this
>> > doesn't happen so often since the system won't list it anymore.
>>
>> Not sure which use case you are referring to here. Are you talking
>> about document deleted the a document with a different reference but
>> same hash is saved ?
>>
>> >
>> > On 2 February 2018 at 13:36, Thomas Mortagne <thomas.morta...@xwiki.com>
>> > wrote:
>> >
>> >> For document what could help a lot already without any performance
>> >> penalty is to compare the loaded document reference and the passed one
>> >> in XWikiHibernateStore#loadXWikiDoc. That's because most of the code
>> >> in XWiki apply the following logic: getDocument(), modify it,
>> >> saveDocument().
>> >>
>> >> On Fri, Feb 2, 2018 at 12:19 PM, Marc Sladek <marc.sla...@synventis.com
>> >
>> >> wrote:
>> >> > Hi Denis,
>> >> >
>> >> > Thanks a lot for your answer. I know it's been a while, but I'd still
>> >> like
>> >> > to follow up on it since it's quite the fundamental issue.
>> >> >
>> >> >> Therefore, by improving the hash algorithm, the size of the ids, and
>> the
>> >> > quality of the hashed key, we have considered ourselves to be saved
>> >> enough
>> >> > for a normal usage.
>> >> >
>> >> > Still, with enough bad luck, documents and objects may be overwritten
>> >> > without a trace. This is not a stable implementation. And even worse,
>> if
>> >> on
>> >> > any XWiki installation hash collisions will happen in the future (or
>> have
>> >> > already happened since 4.x), they probably won't be easily associated
>> >> with
>> >> > this issue because it's nearly impossible to debug.
>> >> >
>> >> > While I do now understand the motivation to stick with hashes, I'm
>> still
>> >> > not sure why a collision detection would be difficult to introduce and
>> >> why
>> >> > it's even "impossible for some API". Let me briefly outline an idea:
>> >> >
>> >> > In XWikiHibernateStore#saveXWikiDoc on L615
>> >> > <https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-platform/blob/stable-9.11.x/
>> >> xwiki-platform-core/xwiki-platform-oldcore/src/main/java/
>> >> com/xpn/xwiki/store/XWikiHibernateStore.java#L615>
>> >> > an exists check on the doc id is already performed. If now
>> >> > xwikidoc.fullName is also selected in the HQL, a comparison to
>> >> > doc.getDocumentReference() can expose an imminent collision before
>> data
>> >> is
>> >> > overwritten. At least an XWikiException should be thrown in this
>> case. A
>> >> > similar thing could be done before saving BaseObjects on L1203
>> >> > <https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-platform/blob/stable-9.11.x/
>> >> xwiki-platform-core/xwiki-platform-oldcore/src/main/java/
>> >> com/xpn/xwiki/store/XWikiHibernateStore.java#L1203>
>> >> > to avoid collisions on Object IDs.
>> >> >
>> >> > I don't think a change like this would be difficult to implement, I
>> could
>> >> > provide a PR of that sort. The performance penalty has to be tested
>> for
>> >> > your systems though, since the full name isn't indexed afaik.
>> >> >
>> >> > Regards
>> >> >
>> >> > Marc Sladek
>> >> > synventis gmbh
>> >> >
>> >> > On 30 November 2017 at 15:21, Denis Gervalle <d...@softec.lu> wrote:
>> >> >
>> >> >> Hi Marc,
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Here are some answers:
>> >> >>
>> >> >> 1) MD5 was already a dependency of our oldcore and using SHA1 would
>> have
>> >> >> added a dependency without bringing much benefit. Since we only used
>> 64
>> >> >> bits of the MD5 anyway, I doubt using SHA1 would have provided a
>> better
>> >> >> distribution.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> 2) Such a collision detection is difficult to be introduced in the
>> >> >> existing code base, for some API it is even impossible. What you
>> >> experience
>> >> >> with the 32-bit ids had been my motivation to the changes in 4.x and
>> I
>> >> >> could say, based on my long XWiki experience, that even with the poor
>> >> >> 32 bit ids, very few users had been affected. Therefore, by improving
>> >> the
>> >> >> hash algorithm, the size of the ids, and the quality of the hashed
>> key,
>> >> we
>> >> >> have considered ourselves to be saved enough for a normal usage.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> 3) That’s the worst point. I cannot answer about the first decision,
>> I
>> >> >> wasn’t yet involve, but regarding the changes introduced in 4.0,  a
>> >> change
>> >> >> had been considered. The ids are only there to satisfy Hibernate and
>> its
>> >> >> loading mechanism. If we had used a counter, we had to manage a
>> >> conversion
>> >> >> table between ids and entity references with all the additional
>> >> complexity
>> >> >> (consistency issues, caching, ...). This is so because we use entity
>> >> >> reference to point directly to document (or even objects) everywhere
>> in
>> >> >> XWiki. This would have been a huge work to introduce that behaviour
>> and
>> >> at
>> >> >> the same time keeping all the existing API unchanged. It would
>> probably
>> >> >> have introduced a performance penalty as well. This is why we
>> resigned
>> >> and
>> >> >> go for an improved hash solution. IMO, if we had to make such a
>> change,
>> >> we
>> >> >> are even better rewriting the storage service completely, and even
>> stop
>> >> >> using Hibernate, which, to be honest, does not bring much benefit to
>> >> >> XWiki with its ORM aspects.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> But if you really want the complete answers, you can look at those
>> >> threads:
>> >> >> http://xwiki.markmail.org/thread/fuprtrnupz2uy37f
>> >> >> http://xwiki.markmail.org/thread/fsd25bvft74xwgcx
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Regards,
>> >> >>
>> >> >> --
>> >> >> Denis Gervalle
>> >> >> SOFTEC sa - CEO
>> >> >>
>> >> >> On 30 Nov 2017, 14:14 +0100, Marc Sladek <marc.sla...@synventis.com
>> >,
>> >> >> wrote:
>> >> >> > Dear XWiki devs
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > We are using the XWiki platform for our applications but sadly are
>> >> still
>> >> >> > stuck with 2.7.2. Lately we ran into issues on a large database and
>> >> >> noticed
>> >> >> > "disappearing" BaseObjects. We were able to link it to XWIKI-6990
>> >> >> > <http://jira.xwiki.org/browse/XWIKI-6990>, where hibernate IDs
>> >> collided
>> >> >> > (hash collisions) and overwrote other objects without any trace -
>> >> neither
>> >> >> > visible in the history nor in a log file.
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > We analysed your implemented solution from 4.0+ in XWikiDocument
>> >> >> > <https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-platform/blob/stable-8.4.x/x
>> >> >> wiki-platform-core/xwiki-platform-oldcore/src/main/java/com/
>> >> >> xpn/xwiki/doc/XWikiDocument.java#L841
>> >> >> > and BaseElement
>> >> >> > <https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-platform/blob/stable-8.4.x/x
>> >> >> wiki-platform-core/xwiki-platform-oldcore/src/main/java/com/
>> >> >> xpn/xwiki/objects/BaseElement.java#L237
>> >> >> > and
>> >> >> > noticed that you changed the 32bit String#hashCode to 64bit MD5,
>> which
>> >> >> > makes a collision less likely. I have a few questions regarding
>> your
>> >> >> > solution:
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > 1) Is there any specific reason why you have chosen MD5 over SHA-1
>> or
>> >> 2?
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > 2) Collisions are still possible and would be extremely hard to
>> notice
>> >> >> > since they are completely silent. Have you considered to implement
>> a
>> >> >> > collision detection to at least log occurring collisions - or even
>> >> better
>> >> >> > reserve 1-2bits of the 64bit to be used as collision counter in the
>> >> case
>> >> >> of
>> >> >> > it happening?
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > 3) To question the concept of generating a hash for an ID in
>> general:
>> >> >> > Wouldn't a database defined "auto increment" be a much more robust
>> >> >> solution
>> >> >> > for the hibernate IDs? A collision would be impossible and
>> >> >> > clustering/scalability is still possible with e.g. the InnoDB
>> >> >> “interleaved”
>> >> >> > autoincrement lock mode. Why have you chosen a hash based solution
>> in
>> >> the
>> >> >> > first place?
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > I'm sorry if these questions were already answered in the dev
>> mailing
>> >> >> list
>> >> >> > or on issues, please link me to them since I couldn't find any
>> >> concrete
>> >> >> > answers.
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > Thanks for your time and regards
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > Marc Sladek
>> >> >> > synventis gmbh
>> >> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> Thomas Mortagne
>> >>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Thomas Mortagne
>>



-- 
Thomas Mortagne

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